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SPEECH 

OK 

HON. GEORGE W, RAY, 

OF NEW YORK, 
\l\ THE House of ^tEPKESE^"TATIVES, 

Saturday, June It, JS'JS. 

On the joint resolution (H. Res. 25!)) to provide for annexing the ILnvaiian 
Islands to the United States. 

Mr. RAY of New York said: 

Mr. Speaker: The que.stiou of the annexation of Hawaii lias 
agitated the public mind and engaged, to some extent, the atten- 
tion of the Congress of the United States for about three j'ears. 
For the first time the question is before the House of Representa- 
tives for direct action. Since the proposition was first presented 
as a public one and came seriously before the Executive, condi- 
tions have changed, and to-day we face the proposition of annex- 
ation lander circumstances that demand immediate action the one 
way or the other and a settlement of the policy of this Goveru- 
ment toward those islands and the Government thereof. 

Twenty-five hundred miles to the westward of San Francisco 
we find the first islands of con.sequence or of value. More than 
3,000 miles farther to the west we reach the shores of Japan, 
China, and the possessions of Great Britain in the far East. By 
the same route and at a still greater distance we reach the Philip- 
pine Islands, until recently possessed and held by Spain, now held 
by the United States and soon to be permanently he'd and occu- 
pied by this nation. We are at war with the Kingdom of Spain. 
The primary object of this contest was not the subjugation of 
Spain or of any of her possessions or the acquisition of any terri- 
tory whether belonging to Spain or any other government. The 
primary object was to free the people of Cuba and give to them a 
stable government. This object has not been lost sight of and 
will be attained. The mode and manner of doing this must of 
necessity be left to the Executive. 

Spain must be brought to terms, compelled to release her hold 
on Cuba: and if in compelling this we find it necessary to compel 
her to release her control of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, she 
must submit. Having gone to war, she must submit to and accept 
the fortunes of war. The United States must assume all the cares 
and responsibilities while she enjo3's the benefits of victory. At 
the very commencement of hostilities it became apparent that the 
struggle was to be a long and bitter one. Those who stated that 
the Spaniards are cowardly and would run avray or surrender at 
the sound of the first angry gun, that ninety days would see the 
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^* end of tlio war, tliat a protest would be made, and that then our 
di-mands for the evacuation of Cuba would be complied with, find 
tliat they were iiii.stala'n. 

It also became apparent to thinking men, at the very outbreak 
of liostilities, that the real and decisive campaigns must be fonght 
upon the sea. Cuba is a hundred miles over the water, and our 
only way of reaching her is by means of ships and transports. 
^Vith a Spanish navy roaming Cuban waters it would be fool- 
hardy in the extreme* to send transports loaded with troops out 
up^m these waters. They might gain their destination unnoticed 
and iniliarmeil, but the probabilities are that thousands of lives 
would be lost in such an undertaking. It therefore became and 
is necessary to destroy or drive from the ocean the navy of Spain. 

It would not do to permit a Spanish fleet of war ships to ficat 
the sea in any quarter of the world, and hence it was that a wise 
]iolicj' sent the brave and able Dewey to Manila with ordei's to 
destroy or capture the Spanish war vessels at that point. He per- 
formed his duty bravely, heroically, and promptly. Without 
furtlier orders he steamed boldl)- into the harbor at Manila and 
sunk the Spanish fleet. This done, but two courses remained; one 
was to steam away home and leave the islands in the possession 
of Spain: the other and the sensible one was to remain, reduce the 
islands themselves and subject them to the domination of this 
nation. 

The latter course was wisely pursiied, and so the forts were re- 
duced and the Stars and Stripes, emblem of liberty and good gov- 
ernment, were raised above that subjugated and conquered 
territory. To hold these islands, to give them a proper and sta- 
ble government, it is necessary to send an army and munitions 
of war, and this army must be supplied and safe communication 
maintained with the home Government. To do this our ships 
must traverse more than 5,000 miles of ocean. Steamships, and 
war ships, and monitors, and transports can make such a journey 
if properly watered, provisioned, and coaled and no accident oc- 
curs and no attack is made iipon them. But the distance is too 
great to be undertaken without a stop; without recoaling, a fresh 
supply of water, provisions, and coal, and hence the attention of 
the Executive and of the whole country was directed to the Island 
of Hawaii. 

Hawaii is friendly, but she must observe the law of nations or 
incur the danger of an attack by Spain and possibly other nations. 
For three years or more her intelligent and governing people have 
been seeking annexation to the United States. For more than 
three years the propriety and advisability of such annexation has 
been discussed by the American people, and the proposition has 
grown in favor as the months have gone by. There has been no 
thirst for conquest, no desire or inclination to enter upon a policy 
of colonization, no purpose to enlarge our territory for the sake of 
territorial expansion: but we have seen the covetous eyes of other 
nations fixed on those islands, and we haA^o seen the trade we 
ought to control passing into other hands. 

We are rapidly coming to understand that if we would have 
our share of the rapidly growing trade with India, China, and 
.Tapan wo must build iip and maintain a shipping to carry across 
tlio ocean our manufactures and bring homo the products of those 
countries. To establisli this trade and maintain it, a harbor imder 
the protection of our guns and of our flag is necessary. The har- 
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bor of Hawaii is the only ono that will answer the purpose, and 
cur people have come to soo that while the offer is open it is onr 
duty as a nation to accept the jiroffei-ed gilt and niako Pearl 
Harbor our own. 

This we can not do witliont taliinp; the island, and we can not 
take the island without taking the people. It is unfortunately 
true that many of the people who inhabit this island are not desir- 
able as citizens, and it is als^o unfortunately true that in every 
State of this Union we have many people who are not desirable as 
citizens or as neighbors. But, Mr. Speaker, this is not a good 
reason for rejecting the opportunity to gain Pearl Harbor as a per- 
manent and a safe refuge for our ships of commerce that will dot 
the Pacific when jieace is secured and during the pending contest, 
and as a safe coaling and rejiair station for our transports and 
war and supply ships during the war with Spain, and for all 
time. 

Mr. Speaker, from aocommercial and business standpoint the 
annexation of Hawaii is both wise and expedient, and on military 
considerations such annexation is now an absolute necessity. Our 
transports and merchantmen must constantly traverse the waters 
of the Pacific, carrying thousands of precious lives and millions 
in value of goods and supplies. It will not do, sir, to imdertake 
to send these ships unattended. It will not do to send them on 
this voyage of nearly G,OUO miles without a friendly harbor into 
which they may drop, safely anchor, repair, and recoal. 

Hawaii was placed where she is for the use of this free people 
in extending the blessings of liberty and a good government to 
the islands and peoples on the opposite side of the globe, and God 
has so shaped events that the people of Hawaii are open to give 
and the hearts of the people of these United States are open to re- 
ceive at the very time that the gift of the island is necessary and 
most acceptable. 

Mr. Speaker, I shall not stop to discuss at any length the ques- 
tion of the constitutionality of the proposed annexation or the 
difficulties we may have to contend with in properly governing 
Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. The people of these United 
States have foimd no particular difficulty in maintaining good 
government at home for one hundred and twenty years and pre- 
serving our country undivided. We are capable of extending the 
blessings and benefits of a popular free government to the peo- 
ples of other nations, and especially to the inhabitants of the little 
islands of the seas. 

All •— dy Hawaii is governed and controlled by men of American 
birth, men who are in sympathy with the Government of the 
United States, men who love our institutions, our customs, our 
manners, and our flag. A good Government similar to our own 
has already been established in that island, and while we would 
not seek for years to come and possibly never to admit her into 
the Union as a free and sovereign State, still all must admit that 
there will be no difficnlt}' whatever in maintaining good order on 
that island under the form of a Territorial government. 

There is no necessity now for discussing the problem of govern- 
ing the Philippines. Within the next six months they may be 
lost to us, or when peace is made they may be surrendered, but I 
venture the assertion that should they become permanently at- 
tached to the United States, as I trust and have no doubt they 
will be, we shall have no serious difficulty in maintaining a Terri- 

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torial government for that people under the beneficent infaiences 
of which they will rapidly improve in education, religion, the arts, 
and sciences,' and eventually become prosperous, intelligent, and 
happy. 

iMr". Speaker, the world is progressing, the people are improv- 
ing, intelligence is being disseminated, and the time will come 
■when ignorance, barbarism, and despotism will pass away. It is 
the mission of the United States to elevate, educate, and ennoble 
in i»roper ways and at the proper time all the peoples of the earth. 
This will not bo done by comjuest except in rare instances, but 
stiil it is to bo done, and the civilized nations of the earth will aid 
us in the doing and approve onr action whenever it tends to the 
ennoblement and ui)lilting of the human race. 

I do not .ehare the fears of those gentlemen who predict that the 
nations of Europe will oppose our occupying either Hawaii or the 
Philippines. The rule of Spain is distasteful to the people of 
every liberty-loving nation on the face of the earth. England, 
Germany, Fr;mce, and Russia woixld rather deal with the United 
States in solving the Eastern question than with the brutal and 
bigoted Government of the Kingdom of Spain. 

Upon the constitutional question raised by some of our Demo- 
cratic friends I will be equally brief. It seems strange to me that 
one hundred and twenty years after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence any citizen of this Republic should doubt the authority of 
the United States to extend the blessings of liberty and the pro- 
tection of our flag to any pco))le asking to be taken beneath the 
broad and ample folds of the Star-Spangled Banner. Early in the 
history of this Government we took Florida by purchase from 
Spain and all that great territory west of the Mississippi by pur- 
chase from France; and if we have the constitutional right as a 
nation to purchase territory, it is difficult to understand why we 
can not take territory as a gift when the lawful owners tender it. 

It strikes me forciblj' that the gentlemen on the Democratic side 
who argued that we have no power to acqitire territory either by 
purchase or gift would hardly concede that Florida and those 
magnificent States west of the Mississippi do not lawfully belong 
to the Government of the United States and are not entitled to the 
protection of its flag. Later on, when the people of Texas had 
substantially won their independence and had established a gov- 
ernment of their own, crade and impei-fect though it was, we ex- 
tended the limits of the Union and took that broad and rich terri- 
tory within the boundary lines of the Republic, and later on, when 
the war with Mexico had terminated, we expanded our territorial 
limits still further. It is late in the day, Mr. Speaker, for gentle- 
men to argue against the constitutionality of these proceedings. 

When Hawaii is annexed, as she will be with the free consent 
of her people, they will be estopped from denying the constitu- 
tionality of the transaction, and I do not believe that any con- 
siderable mimber of the American people will question the con- 
stitutionality of the acts of Congress by which that territory is 
acquired. 

As to the constitutionality of acquiring the Philippine Islands 
by conquest, I can hardly imagine an argument against such ac- 
quisition. Every nation on the face of the earth from earliest 
times has added to her territory in this way. The right to ac- 
quire territory by conquest is well recognized in the law of na- 
tions and is a right incident to the existence of nationality. It 



reqtiii'es no words written in the con.stitutioii of tho nation ta 
confer this right. It is incident to sovereignty. Ciin there be 
any qmstion of tlie advisabihty of annexing Hawaii and tho Philip- 
pines, if that shall be deemed proper by and by, and thereby add- 
ing millions npon millions to our national wealth and millions 
upon millions of dollars to our coninK.rcoV 

Is there any necessity for building up and extending our cori> 
merce both at home and abroad? in IT.Si) our merchant marine 
was 201.000 tons, in ISIO, owing to the Napoleonic wars, we had 
increased the tonnage of our m(>rchant marine to 1,'10U.0:J0 tons. 
In IS;"),') we built (iOU.OiJO tons of merchant marine. In 18()1 we had 
5,540,000 tons of merchant marine afloat, and this was of such a 
class that about 2.500,0()() tons was registered for foreign trade. 
At that time we had one-third of the merchant marine of the world, 
England had one-third, and the rest of the world combined 
possessed the other tha-d. This we had accomplished in half a 
century. 

The war of the rebellion proved disastrous to our merchant 
marine, and we lost during that war from all causes 87U,0()0 tons 
of shipping. In 1887 we did only a^ per cent of the world's in- 
ternal navigation, while England did 50i per cent. In ISDIJ Ameri- 
can steamships made 164 voyages between the United States and 
Europe, while the steamships of other nations made 7,1 IG such 
voyages. To-day England has 13,000,000 tons of merchant ma- 
rine, while we have 4,000,000 tons only, but little more than we 
had in 1861. Our population has doubled, while our need of a 
merchant marine is ten times as great. The combined mercantile 
marine of England and the United States is more than one-half of 
all that floats. 

Mr. Speaker, when we consider the small amount of merchant 
marine owned and controlled by the United States of America, 
a nation of nearly 80,000,000 people, our vast resources and ter- 
ritory, our vast manufacturing interests, the necessities of our 
people, and the necessity and desirabdity of extending our trade 
and commerce to the nations of the Old World and the growing 
republics of the New World, is it not time that we do something 
not only to encourage shipbuilding but to give us the power and 
ability to make a safe voyage not only between New York and 
Liverpool but between San Francisco and Japan and San Fran- 
cisco and Hongkong? 

Is it not time that we reach out and take possession of those little 
islands in the sea that are offered to us as a gift, in order to afford 
a harbor of refuge to merchant vessels flying the American flag 
and to our war ships, whether in times of peace or in times of 
war? It is not the wealth of Hawaii that we covet; it is not the 
right or privilege of governing her people that we desire; it is not 
simply the products of her broad and fruitful fields that we covet. 
What we want is a safe harbor in the midst of the waters of the 
Pacific, where we may establish a coaling station and where we 
may repair ships and take refuge from the storm at all times and 
under all circumstances, with no one to molest or make us afraid. 
We shall have no difficulty in defending that island against inva- 
sion by any foreign nation. We can defend as easily as any na- 
tion can attack, and no one will deny that American pluck and 
bravery and energy and skill and resources will enable lis to de- 
fend successfully every foot of soil above which we raise the 
American flag, 
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Mr. Speaker, we have started out to give liberty and a stable 
goveriinunt to the people of Cuba. To be successful iu this un- 
dertaking wo must sweep the Spanish navies from the sea and take 
possession of the outlying islands far from her own shores or near 
onr own belonging to that Kingdom and to which her war ships 
mav resort for protection or for supplies. To this end Puerto Rico 
must fall and be annexed to the United States; Cuba must be 
placed under the protection of this Government; Spanish intol- 
erance, oppression, and misrule must cease in the Western Hem- 
isphere. And that we may accomplish these results successfully, 
our ships must bo enabled to sail the oceans without hindrance. 
A war ship must carry men and guns and supplies and ammuni- 
tion, and can not be overweighted with fuel. But to be of uso 
when far away from home our war ships must have a coaling sta- 
tion somewhere within a reasonable distance and not be compelled 
to make a voyage of weeks to obtain a fresh supply of fuel. 

Every consideration demands that Hawaii be annexed to the 
United States. Her people and her interests ask it, and our peo- 
ple and our interests demand it. There should be no hesitation 
at tins time, no indulging in fears of what may occur as the years 
mil by. If the time comes v,iien this Republic becomes too weak 
and puny to defend Hawaii against the aggressions of other na- 
tions and properly govern her people, it will be time for us to sur- 
render, not only that territory, but all we now possess on the con- 
tinent of North America. It will be time for us to go out of 
business as a nation. 

Mr. Speaker, the people of all lands and of all climes have 
watched with growing interest the prosperity of this Republic of 
ours, and those who love liberty have flocked to our shores at all 
times during the last century. Such has been our example, our 
growth and development in all that makes a nation good and great 
and free, that now little Cuba has reached oxit her hand for help, 
and the cry has been heard and answered by every loyal, sympa- 
thetic heart in the United States. Hawaii, from amid the placid 
waves of the Pacific, has made her voice heard asking that she, 
weak as she is, be given the protection that only our Government 
and our flag can afford. Her request is to be heeded and answered 
in the afiirmative, and when the Congress of the United States, in 
response to the wishes of the Executive, shall have responded to 
the request of Hawaii, it will have also responded to the voice 
and wishes of the people of the United States of America. 

The sugar production of Hawaii will alone recompense this peo- 
ple for every dollar of expense incurred in caring for her. Her 
debt is so small as to be insignihcant in comparison with the rev- 
enues to be derived from her trade and commerce. But, Mr. 
Speaker, it is not alone with an eye to i)roht that we advocate 
.Timoxation. The safety and ])erpetuity of this Republic demand 
it. It is neither an ill-advi.scd nor a mistaken policy. Those who 
opposed the acquisition of Florida, of the Louisiana purchase, of 
Texas, and of California came to see their mistake and regret 
their action. So it will be with those who now oppose and vote 
against the annexation of Hawaii. 

Our coinni'-rce will grow, and merchantmen flying the flag of 
the United States of America will be seen in large numbers upon 
every sea and in every harbor of the world: new channels of trade 
will bof)i>cnod up and nev/ markets created for the prodii-ctions of 
our sliops and factories and fields. A new impetus will be given 

3174 



oiii'mannfactiiringiiulnstries, and added wealth and an increased 
opjiortunity for labor will add to the general prosjicrity. 

We may as well hold Hawaii as a part oi' our territory, as a Ter- 
ritory' of this Republic, as an integral part of our domain, as to 
undertake to act as her guardian or protector, ^o long as we 
undertake simply to protect her other nations may assume a like 
duty and insist that their right and duty in that regard is as great 
as our own and even superior. Thousands of Japanese have 
settled there, and who Jniuws how soon that nation may as?ert a 
right to control the island? yiie may send war ships into Pearl 
Har])or any day, land an army, and defy the United States. 

While we are bending our energies to bring Sjjain to terms, 
while our armies are on Cuban soil, and oiir war ships at the 
Philipi^ines and in Cuban waters, the hist for territory may seize 
Japan and she may take possession of the island now offered us. 
And she could dothis without malcing war upon the United States. 
But, Mr. Speaker, our flag once raised at Hawaii and a small body 
of the boys who wear the blue once quartered there, with the 
declaration that Hawaii is ours, and no nation on the face of the 
earth will dare interfere. 

I am conscious of the fact that a thirst for territorial expansion 
has proved ruinous to many nations. I do not forget that Alex- 
ander wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, and 
that Greece is to-day one of the weakest and most powerless of all 
the nations. I remember that Rome sat upon her seven liiTs and 
from her throne of empire ruled the world, and that to-day she is 
almost powerless. I can see Napoleon Bonaparte conquering 
Egypt, winning a victory at the foot of Mount Tabor, rolling the 
defeated Turks back upon the Jordan, occupying Vienna, and 
carrying the eagles of France in triumph from Paris to Madrid 
and from Madrid to Moscow. I can see him, too, an exile at Elba, 
crushed at Waterloo, and eiiding his days at St. Helena, while 
Cossacks occupied the Tuileries andthe nations reduced the ter- 
ritorial limits of France. All this i remember and fully appre- 
ciate, and it admonishes me and should admonish every good citi- 
zen who loves this land and desires the prosperity and perpetuity 
of our Government to act with caution and discretion and resist 
all temi3tation to undertake the unnecessary acquisition of terri- 
tory. 

But, sir, in what we propose to do there is no dream of univer- 
sal empire — only a desire to protect our own interests and insure 
the prosperity of our peoi^le. Not sympathy for oppressed and 
outraged Cubans alone led us to declare for ■' freeCuba." Our own 
interests were involved. So to-day we are to consider this propo- 
sition from no sentimental standpoint, but as a plain business 
proposition, and accept or discard it as shall be deemed wisest 
. and most for the permanent good of our grand and glorious 
country. 

Looking at tlie proposition to annex Hawaii from this stand- 
point; having no interest, present or prospective, except that which 
is common to every citizen of the Reiiublic interested in its pros- 
perity, proud of its past, and confident of its future, I am, Mr. 
Speaker, convinced that duty to my people and to my country 
demands that I cast my vote in favor of this joint resolution for 
the annexation of Hawaii to the Republic of the United States of 
America. 

When annexation is accomplished, our sailors and marines who 

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" go down to the sea in sliips," our soldier boys on the way to Ma- 
nihi, our traders and citizens who travel abroad and over the 
western waters will feel that there is one ishmd amid the waves 
of the stormy ocean where an American ship can take refuge and 
"be at home. Wlu'n years have come and gone and other genera- 
tions control the destinies of tliis nation and other legislators fill 
our seats, all will unite to commend the work of the Fifty-fifth 
Congress in doing its sliaro to make Cuba free and establish a 
bulwark of defense in the far Pacific. 



IBRARY OF 



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